Mid-Hudson, Catskills take hit from winter storm

Snow fell steadily throughout the day Friday in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills as a powerful winter storm closed in on the Northeast, and conditions were expected to worsen through the night.

More than a foot of fresh snow was expected to be on the ground throughout the region by the time the storm moves out this morning, and parts of eastern New England were looking at the possibility of 3 feet.

Ulster County Emergency Management Director Art Snyder reported minor vehicle accidents throughout the day due to slick road conditions but said there were no reports of serious injuries. In Dutchess County, though, a 74-year-old man, who was walking on the shoulder of East Cedar Street in the Fairview area of the town of Poughkeepsie, was struck and killed early Friday afternoon when a motorist lost control on the snowy road.

Police said Muril Hancock, a resident of the town, was walking along the road at 12:30 p.m. when a car driven by an 18-year-old Fishkill woman skidded and struck him. The woman, who police did not identify, told them she lost control because of the snow.

Several municipalities in the area declared states of emergency even before the snow began to fly, urging residents to refrain from driving unless absolutely necessary. Other, including Kingston, banned on-street parking.

Many school districts in the area dismissed students early on Friday, while some never opened.

Ulster County Area Transit buses stopped running at 5 p.m. Friday because of the weather. The UCAT buses are to start running again at noon Saturday, though there will be no runs on the Z Route, which connects Kingston, Woodstock, Pine Hill and the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center.

In Dutchess County, LOOP bus service was suspended at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Metro-North ran additional trains out of Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan between noon and 8 p.m. and said train combinations and cancellations were possible.

But despite the steady -- and sometimes heavy -- snowfall and increasing wind speeds, there were no power outages reported in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.'s eight-county service area as of early Friday evening.

Utility Spokesman John Maserjian said the company stood ready, nevertheless, to respond to any outages that may occur.

"We're fully prepared to deal with any power outages that result from this storm," Maserjian said.

News of the approaching storm sent people flocking to area stores on Friday for food and snow-removal equipment.

The shelves at the Hannaford supermarket in Kingston Plaza were bare of many items, including fresh fruits and vegetables and breads. There was an ample supply of water, however, and full racks of batteries.

Herzog's, also in the plaza, was doing a brisk business Friday as shoppers stocked up on shovels, salt and snow blowers.

"We've seen a lot of people trying to get prepared -- rock salt and shovels," said Dave Mannello, one of the store's managers.

"We've had a lot of people come in and say 'Where's the storm?' too," he said.

Meteorologist Ian Lee, with the National Weather Service at Albany, said forecasts called for the storm to "really crank up ... (Friday) evening and early overnight."

Forecast models showed the system dropping between 10 and 14 inches of snow on the region with the potential for wind gusts of up to 30 mph.